Throughout the ancient history, gold has been considered as one of the most precious metal. But it has not been used for money until around 550 BC. Earlier, people only used to carry around the silver or gold coins. Later on, they found that they could get the government to make them quite readable coins out of it. The major reason is its value and its usefulness as a currency. As far as 30 BC, the value of gold can easily get traced back. Here in the below section as well let’s take a look.
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Roman Empire
In 31 BC to 14 AD, the emperor Augustus ruled the ancient Rome and set the price of gold at 45 coins to the pound. This means that with the help of one pound of gold you can easily make 45 coins. Thereafter in the period of 211 to 217 AD, the revaluation occurred. At that time, the value gets set at 50 coins. Later on, in 305 AD, the value gets increased at 60 coins. In the 337AD it increased at 70 coins per pound. These emperors lowered the value of the currency of to an extent that it leads towards the hyperinflation. In order to balance it, one pound of gold was worth at 50,000 denarii. In 337, it worth of 20 million denarii
Great Britain
In the year 1257, the amount of one ounce of gold was set at 0.89 pounds. Later on, in every century, one pound gets increased. In 1800, most of the countries supported their printed paper currencies in gold. In order to support the value, the country is kept enough gold reserves. in the United States, the history of the gold standard begin in 1900 and at that time the value of the gold was set at 20.67 $ per ounce. Until the 1944 Bretton Woods agreement, gold was kept at 4.25 pounds per ounce.
United States
Before the introduction of gold standard act, united state used the British gold standard. Later on, in the year 1791, the price of gold was set at dollar 19.49 per ounce. In 1834, get raised to dollar 20.69 per ounce. It leads towards Great depression. In August 1929, recession beganand then the interest rate gets enhanced. After the year 1929, the stock market experienced a crash and many investors started redeeming the paper currency is for the value of their gold. At that time, the United States government treasury gets worried that the country might run out of gold. And that is why they decided to increase the rates again.
Conclusion
Year by year, the value of gold gets enhanced and it also affects the total economy of the country as well. Recently, due to the global pandemic situation that is covid-19, the price of gold rise is up to 1731.64 $ on 31st may 2020. And it is expected that the prices will get increased more.
